PICTURES: Renovation work at Doncaster town centre pub reveals original 1930s signs

Darren Burke

Traditional pub signs more than 80 years old have been revealed for the first time in decades at a popular Doncaster town centre pub during renovation work.

The Plough in West Laith Gate, more commonly known to local drinkers as The Little Plough. has unveiled original signwork which dates back to when the pub was first opened in 1934.

The pub before the original signage was unveiled.

Landlord Nick Griffin stripped back more modern signs to reveal the "Hewitt's Grimsby Ales" lettering on the brickwork underneath.

He said: "We've been restoring the front of the pub to its original appearance. When we ripped the modern signs down we found the original Hewitts signs which come from when the pub was opened in the 1930s."

Local artist David Venables has helped restored the signs and repainted them as they would have looked more than 80 years ago.

The pub was opened as a two room pub five years before the outbreak of World War Two and the building still boasts many of its original features.

The pub has been in Doncaster since 1934.

The pub is one of only three in South Yorkshire listed on CAMRA’s National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors and the bar has been awarded Doncaster and District Branch of CAMRA’s Pub of the Season on many occasions.

Hewitt's ran a brewery in Grimsby for nearly 100 years until 1968, and its beers and pubs could be found well beyond Lincolnshire.

The pub is due to receive the CAMRA Pub of the Season award once again in March.